LETTER: Voters, invest in Dartmouth

Tuesday

Jul 31, 2007 at 12:01 AM

One way or another, Dartmouth residents will pay for the override being sought in today's vote. Will we do it collectively in a fair and well-planned general tax? Or will we do it piecemeal through expense deferrals, fees, and diminished quality of life in our town?

One way or another, Dartmouth residents will pay for the override being sought in today's vote. Will we do it collectively in a fair and well-planned general tax? Or will we do it piecemeal through expense deferrals, fees, and diminished quality of life in our town?

Opponents to the override clearly believe there is waste and inefficiency that can be eliminated with belt-tightening measures. Their view is an extension of one of the governing principals of the modern conservative movement: that we are generally overtaxed and overburdened with bloated government institutions. The only way to reign in the insatiable bureaucracies is to "starve the beast" into submission.

The problem with this, when applied to Dartmouth, is that the beast has been starved for a long time. Dartmouth's fast-paced growth has not been matched by a reasonable increase in revenue, mostly because the businesses in our town are taxed far less than in other towns. We have a revenue problem, not a spending problem, and there is a limit to the belt-tightening that can be done to fix that.

If the override doesn't pass, we'll see more cuts, but the bulk of the costs will be covered by imposing fees, under-funding the schools, and under-funding the reserve fund. Under-funding an already anemic reserve fund will mean increased costs for insurance and bond issues, and the ultimate risk of falling into state receivership. Because of state mandates, we'll have to revisit this issue every six months until the reserve fund is fully funded.

That's not responsible financial management by anyone's standards.

We all know that you can put off replacing an old roof for only so long. If you save money by putting it off, you risk bigger costs to your whole house. If we don't do the prudent thing by investing in ourselves and buoying our finances now, we'll just end up paying later. And the costs for all of us will likely be a lot higher.